Historic Commission reveals Cheney Depot restoration plans

CHENEY – The historic Cheney Depot is transitioning to an eatery that will include a restaurant, outside dining area and coffee bar.

City Senior Planner Brett Lucas said the most prominent exterior alterations include adding new French doors to the existing sliding doors and putting them in the baggage and freight rooms. They will also be removing the loading dock to make room to raise the existing freight room floor.

According to City Building Inspector Terry Mourning, interior renovations include a two-sided fireplace below the ticket counter, reworking the men's room, and a new archway between the existing waiting rooms.

The former mechanical basement transforms into a serving counter and the freight room retrofitted into a fully functional commercial-style kitchen. A new restroom and conference room are new additions.

But for the establishment to remain a historical site, it must visually represent its original 1929 Spanish architectural style design.

"It'll have the same interior windows, the same panes, the original light fixture near the top of the ceiling and the original plasters," Lucas said. "We're gonna match original plasters; we're gonna match original paint colors and keep all the artifacts intact as much as we can."

Mourning documented the entire building and spoke about the vision for the establishment.

"We really want the building to stay a vital part of the community for years," he said. "We want this building to be part of Cheney forever and that's how we're going to preserve it."

The Cheney Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved all of the changes and revisions suggested by Lucas and Morning.